Illusions of the Sea

Rob Gonsalves is a modern day master of optical illusion-style painting. Much like the classics Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte, who he took inspiration from at an early age, Gonsalves creates mind-bending and visually stunning images that look a little different at every glance.

A childhood of daydreaming and drawing has evolved into a career of making paintings that are primarily a celebration of imagination. Along the way I took a detour into the world of Architecture, but after an enthusiastic response to my paintings at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition in 1990, I began painting full time. Huckleberry Fine Art, in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area took the success of my work to a new level, and began publishing limited edition reproductions of it. Three children's books have been created using my paintings: Imagine a Night, Imagine a Day and Imagine a Place. Master of Illusion is the name of the calendar series that contains my artwork, now in its sixth year. – Rob Gonsalves’ Facebook page

Most of his stunning paintings have an unclear boundary between the multiple stories they tell, which forces the viewer to jump back and forth between them – like an optical illusion that changes every time you look at it. – Bored Panda

Themes in his artwork include: architecture, people and the natural world. I particularly like his image of the sea, many featuring illusive sailing ships as they disappear off into the painting.